The Damned Demon

"So you feel you are at an impasse because that human refuses to sign without an added clause?" Duncan asked as he closed the book he was reading and placed it on the table.

He let Asher come into his personal library upon hearing he had something important to consult with him.

Asher was surrounded by thousands of ancient books and multiple moving stairs as he looked at him and nodded, "Yeah. She is frail, but she is astute too. She saw through my plan to trick her. I don't think any more words from me will change her mind. But if I ignore her, then my quest will surely end in failure."

Duncan hummed as he slowly stroked the edge of the book in his hand and asked, "She was once a mighty Hunter, right?"

"Yes," Asher nodded while wondering what Duncan was coming to.

"Generally, no powerful Hunter would be willing to make a deal with a demon weaker than them. So don't you think it would be a waste to let go of someone as powerful as her who is willing to sell her soul to you?" Duncan asked with an inner glow in his eyes.

Asher had a confused look as he asked, "I don't get it. What can I do with her? I am too weak to even let her use her power for more than a few minutes. And if I don't reap her soul, I won't get any benefits, right?"

Asher also wanted the same thing, but he couldn't see a solution.

Duncan shook his head softly and said, "Reaping doesn't mean you have to consume their soul completely right there and then. It is a process that can either be short or long. You can reap a human's soul within seconds, or you can do it over days, months, or years and gain even more. It is all up to you."

Asher's eyes increasingly became focused with interest as Duncan continued, "What you have got here is a very rare opportunity and the best time to start building your own cult."

"My cult? How? She will die within a few minutes of using my power," Asher said with a shake of his head.

"Not necessarily. If she kills enough people, she can sustain herself longer. The people she kills should not be weak, of course, considering her own strength. But that also means you will get to gain a lot more," Duncan said as he placed the book back into one of the shelves.

"In what way would I gain more? If she uses the refined mana from the humans she kills and uses it to sustain herself, what will I get?" Asher asked with a keen look.

"During one of our earlier sessions, I mentioned to you how Reaping can be greatly beneficial if your vessel causes enough chaos and destruction before the timer runs out. But that is only a short-term benefit and something that happens very rarely. What I didn't tell you at that time is the long-term benefit of Reaping which has more chance of succeeding and fewer risks," Duncan said with a subtle wave of his forefinger, making Asher part his lips.

He did feel that making his vessel cause enough destruction before the timer ran out could not happen every time and would be highly difficult too.

For instance, even if Remy becomes his vessel, how much destruction can he possibly cause before he gets taken down? Not more than a few, and considering the strength of the people he might kill, he wouldn't stand to gain any abnormal amount of refined mana.

"So if that human becomes your Soulservant and reaps the souls of other humans, then what you will gain is not exactly refined mana but life crystals. And all that life crystals go to you, but you will get to choose how much to give to your Soulservant to sustain herself," Duncan explained as he took out another book from the shelf.

"Life crystals?" Asher didn't expect that and asked, "I know they are precious but…"

Duncan squinted his eyes as he saw the look on Asher's face and said, "Don't feel disappointed. I can understand why you underestimate the power of life crystals. They are vital for more than our survival," Duncan took out a life crystal and he looked at it with a look of admiration and respect, "Just one of these small, beautiful things helps us stay alive for a short while in a harsh realm like ours. But it does more than just that. It can also help you extend your…lifespan. This is another main reason why all of your seniors who are at their peak never stop Reaping."

"Lifespan? How is that possible?" Asher asked with widened eyes. This was something he never expected and something that made life crystals appear even more valuable to him.

"Vampires like me or any race with a high life span lives for about 300 years, give or take some. Theoretically, we can live longer, but the harsh environment of our realm makes our bodies grow older faster as years pass. That is why, as you grow older, you will notice the number of life crystals you need to absorb each day will keep increasing. You are young now, so you don't have to take much compared to when you become 50 years old," Duncan said as he pointed at Asher with his hand.

"Oh…" Asher didn't expect he had to also account for his age and not just his strength for the number of life crystals he would have to absorb each day.

"So when you near the end of your life span or at any point when your body starts to show its aging, you can absorb a tremendous amount of life crystals to reverse the harmful effects on your body caused by our environment. You can also do it now, but there would be no point in doing it while you are young and healthy," Duncan explained.

"I see…" Asher mumbled as he now realized why even those senior noble ladies like Esther, Rebecca, and Naida were still looking beautiful despite being so old. As expected, any woman would be concerned about their looks. 

So they must be absorbing life crystals every day to keep looking youthful while the men don't mind looking older. They probably only care about living longer.

"If that is the case, then why can't the most wealthy people keep on living endlessly?" Asher asked since he knew people from powerful Houses like Thorin Thorne, Seron, or Vernon Valentine possess a staggering amount of life crystals, and so did their forefathers. But none of them really lived longer than 400 years.

Duncan let out a soft hum as he shook his head, "It's not that easy. As I said, age is a very important factor. So once you reach the end of your life span, you would need a staggering amount of life crystals just to live a year longer. And even more, if you want to live another year. So by the time you have lived dozens of years beyond your lifespan, the number of life crystals you would need to live another year would be so much you won't be able to get them even if you steal from every single demon in this realm. That is why every one of us knows nobody can live forever."

Asher softly nodded as he felt that made sense. Otherwise, he would have read about old monsters who lived beyond 500 years or so.

"But I am not suggesting you start a cult just to increase your lifespan, which you don't even have to worry about now. I am telling it because you have no real power of your own in this kingdom. All you have is your status as a 'consort'. So even if people flock towards you because of your achievements, you have to give something back to make them stay and be your loyal vassals," Duncan stressed the last sentence to make sure Asher understood.

Asher nodded as he knew this very well. He still had yet to gain a good footing in this kingdom.

"You need life crystals to build alliances, build your own armies who will be steadfast and loyal to you, and do your bidding at any time without question. Unfortunately, you cannot get any of this without life crystals. You cannot even borrow life crystals from the queen since she is duty-bound to not be irresponsible with the kingdom's wealth. At best, you will only get an allowance, but that is far from enough for what you need," Duncan mentioned this just to make sure Asher would forget any ideas of asking the queen for life crystals.

Asher had no plans of asking Rowena for life crystals since he didn't want to lower his pride unless he was in some kind of desperate situation.

"Other than these things, if you own a cult with powerful servants, then you can cause more destruction to their world and weaken them in several ways without even being there personally. They will also be able to help you in other ways. So it will definitely contribute to our kingdom getting better," Duncan stressed the last sentence to highlight how important it was.

"Sure. I understand," Asher firmly nodded.

"So this is what I suggest you should do. Go to a Contract Master and let him teach you how to rewrite the clauses, which is quite simple. Then start a cult with that human being your first Soulservant, and as time passes and you get more Soulservants, you would be earning life crystals without raising a finger and without even going over to the Severed Realm. Depending on how powerful your cult becomes, you can earn tens of them, hundreds, or even thousands a day. You will soon understand how beneficial Reaping will be for you if you manage your cult in the right way," Duncan said with a focused gaze, eager to see Asher's progress with this.